January 22, 2021
Dear School Community:
As previously announced, we are on track to resume in-person instruction next week. Fortunately, there are more than enough students and staff members who have volunteered to get tested for COVID-19, allowing us to comply with New York State’s “yellow zone” protocols. So, a big thank you to the many families who have helped us reach the 20 percent testing threshold. 
Our goal all along was to get back to in-person instruction as soon as it was safe to do so based on available data. Earlier this week, I noted Oneida County’s seven-day positivity rate was 7.3 percent. As of January 21, it is 6.8 percent. That is a considerable decline and very good sign. Remember – just two weeks ago, the positivity rate was 10.8 percent. In conclusion, it appears the surge in cases resulting from the holidays is over, and we are hopeful the numbers will continue to trend downward. With that said, we will continue to be vigilant and monitor everything happening in our district. We will be ready to react and change course if need be.
Assuming test results do not reveal a significant number of positive cases, in-person instruction is scheduled to resume as follows:
Tuesday, January 26 – Primary Elementary School & Upper Elementary School
Wednesday, January 27 – Jr./Sr. High School Cohort A
Thursday, January 28 – Jr./Sr. High School Cohort B
Please know once we return to in-person instruction, should a snow day become necessary, a true snow day will be utilized. This will be the case unless we get to a point where we have used all of our allotted snow days. Also, Mid-Winter Recess, and a much deserved break, is only about three weeks away. Above all, the same health and safety protocols that were in place before we transitioned to remote instruction, are still in place.
Finally – there are a lot of things out of our control, like the vaccine rollout and distribution and social distancing, quarantine and isolation rules. However, what we can control is minimizing the spread of COVID-19 by practicing all of the health and safety protocols in place, both in and out of school. Remember – your actions outside of school can affect people in school. If we do our part and follow protocols, whether we like them or not, hopefully there won’t be any further disruptions to in-person instruction.
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We are looking forward to seeing everyone next week!
Sincerely,
Rocco Migliori
Superintendent of Schools